By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Planning to write a story about April Fools’ Day, I set out this week to ask people about the best pranks they pulled or were pulled on them. It turns out the joke was on me. My less-than-scientific research ended up with not even a handful of people who had a story to share.
“I’m not really a prankster,” most of them said. Or “I just can’t remember any.”
My dismal numbers didn’t even equate to a 2021 YouGov America poll that estimated 46% of Americans like to play pranks on family members and friends.
Granted, April 1 is not a national holiday. And there are various suggestions about its origins. Some believe the holiday is tied to a change in the calendar in 1582 when the Gregorian calendar and its January new year replaced the Julian calendar and its early April new year. Those who still chose to celebrate the new year in April were called April fools.
Some historians believe ancient Roman festivals, such as Hilaria, are linked to April Fools’ Day. People dressed in disguises and mocked others. The traditions of foolery spread throughout Britain in the 18th century, even becoming a two-day event in Scotland.
Over time, the pranks have gone beyond person-to-person jokes. Newspapers, radio and television stations and brands have planned pranks and hoaxes to fool audiences, listeners and viewers. Taco Bell reported it agreed to purchase the Liberty Bell and planned to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. Google‘s first April Fools joke offered telepathic search options, which resulted in error messages such as “Error 05: Brainwaves received in analog. Please re-think in digital.”
Pranks I learned about in my local research included a breakfast switcheroo, an untimely social media announcement, a subtle but clever nod to the holiday, and a “Groundhog Day”-esqe prank.
Cole Nemeth, a second-year nursing student at Bowling Green State University and a Bowling Green High School graduate, recalled an April Fools’ Day joke when he was a child. As he sat patiently in his favorite chair waiting for a waffle or bowl of cereal, he didn’t quite understand why his parents served him a bowl of baby food, just like his infant brother, Miles. Before they explained it was a joke, he was confused; but he laughs about it now.
Tyne Lowe, manuscript archivist at the University Libraries, was planning a pre-wedding event at one of her favorite diners in Annapolis, Maryland. She was saddened when she saw on Facebook that the diner was closing its location and her plans were dashed. Only many days later, she read on Facebook the post was an April Fools’ joke.
For Frank McLaughlin, chair of the Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board, April 1 is a day of dread. Every year his wife Jan Larson McLaughlin tries to trick him. And every year she does, despite the yellow note stuck on April 1 in his daily planner that warns him “BEWARE OF JAN! (April 1).”
Last year it was a frantic call while she was driving around town delivering flowers. “She was sobbing and telling me she had backed into another car and caused a lot of damage before she said, ‘April Fools.’
“She gets me every year. No matter how much I try to prepare myself, she catches me off guard,” he said.
This year, John King, a doctoral student in BGSU’s American Culture Studies and an employee in the Browne Popular Culture Library, was finally able to pull off a prank he’d been thinking about for a couple of years.
One of his duties is creating displays and exhibits in the pop culture library’s reading room and hallways “to get conversations going, especially with undergraduates and visitors who haven’t been to the library before. Seeing familiar and fun items can help put people at ease and get them to engage with us,” he said.
His idea was the result of four years of digging through the 15,000 posters stored in the pop culture library. He noticed that many of the posters are printed front and back with the back being in reverse. Apparently, that is a common practice because when the poster is illuminated from behind, the double-sided printing gives an increased color saturation and the movie poster “comes to life.”
Four frames in the reading room have backward posters displayed for lriG yM, poC oboR, ruoH hsuR, and llA mehT eluR oT gniR enO |1002 rebmeceD snigeB ygolirT ehT. (aka My Girl, Robo Cop, Rush Hour, One Ring To Rule Them All | The Trilogy Begins December 2001).
“The prank is subtle, but once you see the ‘April Fools’ Day’ ‘80s slasher movie poster in the hallway, whether it’s before you come into the reading room and see the backward posters, or on your way out, you have that ‘aha moment’ and realize it’s an April Fools’ joke,” King said. “It’s a wink and a nod to my prank.”
